with Reroll & Ignore Injury

Archive for April, 2010

You see a lot of people commenting on the new Blood Angels Codex, but I bet that most of them are just applying Theoryhammer. The Codex is simply too new for most people to have gotten in more than a handful of actual games since it came out. Not enough to make extensively field-tested remarks, at any rate.

Anyway, here’s MY Theoryhammer analysis of the Codex…

NOTE: The Stormraven Gunship is disregarded for now, as there is no model for it yet.

Honestly, I do not see a radical departure from the existing army lists. People may add the odd Sanguinary Guard, but I think that in general, it’s still very much a Space Marine approach. Sadly, I think many will drop the Death Company. The uncurable Rage is a disadvantage that overwhelms the fact that with the right upgrades, nothing can withstand 16 frothing marines fallen to the Black Rage, charging out of a Crusader… Even ‘naked’ (without upgrades) and without an accompanying Chaplain, 10 of these madmen will likely wipe out a full squad of marines in just 2 assault phases, thereby allowing them to consolidate to a better position, in preparation for the compulsory Rage move in the following turn (assuming that they managed to charge against those marines). The Death Company is fluffy, but they are VERY difficult to use, especially against a good opponent. Once you’ve disembarked them from a transport, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever be able to re-embark them, due to Rage. If you give them jump-packs, they completely cost themselves out of a competitive game… Sigh.

OK, let’s talk about what I think is a somewhat competitive list, in my opinion (without the Stormraven):

Mech is probably unavoidable. The list will have a Land Raider (usually Crusader or Redeemer), with Assault Terminators. What works for Space Marines, works even better for Blood Angels. It seems everyone and their pet smurfs are fielding these bad boys (I’m talking about the most prevalent army out there: Space Marines), and for good reasons. If you’ve been keeping tab of the 40k scene, you know what those reasons are (just check any 40k forum). Take a Terminator Librarian to lead the Assault Terminators, he can provide 5+ cover saves to your mech, and allow the Termies to re-roll all misses EVERY assault phase. Spam a few Razorbacks as dedicated transports for your Assault Squads. Together with Baals or Predators, these tanks will form a super hard core of mech to smash the enemy’s face in…

In a 2k list, you can have 5+ twin-linked assault cannons for mid-ranged, flexi-function firepower against both infantry and mech (the assault cannon actually has a higher chance of penetrating armour 14 than the lascannon, probability wise, at the expense of range). The fact that ALL your assault cannon toting tanks (fast Razorbacks/ Baals/ Predators, and Land Raider with Power of the Machine Spirit) can move 12″ and shoot their assault cannons means you should be in range of the enemy while being out of range of melta most of the time. For the Razorbacks, you can also shoot the Stormbolter in addition to the Assault Cannon, at that speed!

For more anti-tank, take a predator with autocannon turret and lascannon sponsons.

For more ummph!, take Devastators. Give them a dedicated transport, and use it to transport Mephiston (for added assaulty goodness).

Have Scouts or Tacticals to guard your objective and take pot shots at the enemy. Take at least one Dread to ensure your objective is not easily overwhelmed. Take a second Dread in a drop pod for more versatility.

Add either Assault troops or Sanguinary Guard for surprise drop-ins from reserve. Have Melta-Surprise and Power-Stab-In-The-Back as needed.

For anti-horde, take the Flamestorm Baal. In pairs, if the horde problem is serious.

Boost everyone by including Sanguinary Priest(s), riding in Razorbacks or flying in with the deepstriking Sanguinary Guard / Assault Squad. Now your Assault Termies are nigh unkillable with 2+ saves and 4+ ignore injury (and strikes first against ordinary marines)! Have a good spread of Lightning Claws and Thunderhammer +Stormshields for a balanced offence and defense.

Tactica:

You have a block of mech consisting of the Land Raider and several Razorbacks plus Baals, for some serious shooty against both infantry or mech. Position and move the tanks so that they provide the most cover to each other (remember that the Librarian gives the fall-back 5+ save, so make sure his transport is within range) while still giving line-of-sight to their weapons. Arm the Assault Squads with melta so that they can jump out of their transports for anti-tank. This block of mech has mobility, shooting power and some staying power because of the 5+ cover from the Librarian and obscured effects from it’s own component tanks. The Troops can melta and take objectives. For assault, the Librarian led Assault Termies are rock hard, especially backed by Mephiston! With 2 Librarians, psychic defense is also covered. Even if you don’t provide Mephy with his own ride, he can keep up with his Wings and Fleet. He can be easily hidden behind the Land Raider and Rhino-chasis tanks. Move this block towards the enemy formations to get in range, then move away to stay out of their melta range. Near the close of the game, after thinning out the enemy, rush forward to assault. Or if they rush towards your tanks, disembark your assault elements (ie NOT the Assault Squads in Razorbacks, these are for melta strikes and taking objectives, use as last resort assault support) and take them in close combat. Try to keep everyone in the Librarian’s and the Sanguinary Priest(s)’ Bubbles of Awesome (TM). Assault Termies with ignore injury and Mephiston IN CONCERT will massacre almost anything, including enemy Assault Termies!!! Especially if the mech did their job shooting the crap out of the enemy first!

Use the Flamestorm Baal (without sponsons) to cleanse objectives off enemy Troops. They’re very good at this, if you Scout them properly. If they are destroyed afterwards, it’s still good as they’ve probably killed loads of Troops and only cost, what?, 120 points with dozer blades? You may want to add a stormbolter for extra dakka and survivability, though. I’ve been told Baals work best in pairs, but you may not have enough points to spare.

At your backyard, the sniper Scouts / Tacticals and the Devastators should be comfortably blasting away at the enemy behind cover, guarded by a Dread (also armed with long range weapons, if the points can be spared). Have a Furioso with Blood Talons and meltagun in a drop pod to ensure either safety of your Troops guarding your objective, or deepstrike it near the objective guarded by enemy Troops to scare your opponent senseless.

The jump-pack guys will drop in as needed for anti-tank or assault support.

So I had a movie date on Friday night. And we watched ‘Kick-Ass’. Didn’t go in with much expectations. Knew it was a comedy about a Superhero wannabe (with no superpowers)…

Was pleasantly surprised that this movie KICKS ASS!!!

That’s right. Watch it. You won’t regret it (even the date liked it, and she’s not a geek-nerd-gamer-girl or a wannabe (with no superpowers)).

My favourite character:

HIT-GIRL. Tiny, eleven years old. Cusses like a pro… (fessional). She’d kick Hermione’s ass any time anywhere. Heck, she’d probably kick The Bride’s ass without blinking. Fully armed Mafia tough guys with a BAZOOKA are afraid to attack her when she’s OUT OF AMMO. She’s so awesome, Chuck Norris would have to be the Kick-Ass character just to make him a little less of a lame duck compared to her in a movie named after Kick-Ass himself…

No, I’m serious. It’s not another Chuck Norris joke…

And then we have Big Daddy. Yup, it’s Nick Cage in the only kick ass movie character for as long as you can remember. If you think he looks like Batman, that’s because he’s such a Dark Knight… er, I mean horse, dark horse. Despite the name, Big Daddy rocks!!!

Following renewed interest (among gaming groups in my region) in the Battle Fleet Gothic game that first got me started with GW games years ago, I’ve scrummaged through my old stuff in search of my ‘all-conquering’ Chaos Fleet… and it’s nowhere to be found!!!

I still have my unpainted Space Marine fleet and a couple of old unassembled Chaos ships (plus the broken Planet Killer, which I’ve only used once before), but of the venerable Chaos Fleet that has won me countless games (and technically never lost one, EVER), there is not a sign!!! Oh no! I know I can re-assemble the ‘same’ Fleet with the unopened ships that I did find, but it just wouldn’t be the same!

Demmit, the guys have done up The-Best-BFG-Table-In-The World (TM) (pics to come) and I don’t have my old Fleet to try it out!

I’m going to search a bit more before calling it in, but I fear that the Fleet has somehow been thrown away when I last moved house…

All right, here’s some progress on my Libby Dread. It’s based on GW’s Venerable Dreadnought Multi Plastic kit. I’m a firm believer of a more dynamic pose dramatically improving a boring miniature, so this is what I’ve done so far…

This is my SlamDunk (TM) pose that I’ve been thinking of using for a Blood Angels Librarian, rising up (with Wings of Sanguinius) to slam down a devastating ball of energy from his palm… Then the new Codex came-a-calling, so now I get to do it for a Dread!!!

Will be using the wings from the Sanguinary Guard for the Wings of Sanguinius. I’m also waiting for my Ironclads to come in, so that I came make use of a CCW arm to convert the Force Weapon wielding right hand…